A conventional computer system such as a personal computer or the like is at risk of attack from viruses and spyware due to the openness of its operation system (OS). A computer virus is a piece of software code designed to replicate itself as many times as possible, spreading from one host computer to any other computers connected to the host computer. Viruses typically include a payload that may damage a user's personal files or even the OS. Spyware is broadly defined as any software code or program that gets into a computer without permission and hides in the background of an operation system of a computer while it makes unwanted changes to the user experience. The damage it does is more a by-product of its main mission, which is to serve the user targeted advertisements or make the user's browser display certain sites or search results. As applications develop more features, the threat of viruses increases, and a computer is more vulnerable to viruses and spyware. In a conventional computer system, a common OS is used for various kinds of applications such as the Internet, checkbook maintenance, videos, games, music, E-mail, pictures, and the like. The conventional computer system is susceptible to attack of the viruses and spyware since each application has access to the entirety of the hard disk (thus all data) and various inputs and outputs of the system, thereby causing the viruses and spyware to spread easily from place to place inside the computer system. Moreover, in a conventional computer system, since an OS need be prepared to operate multiple applications concurrently, the OS need contain the superset of support services required by all applications. This unnecessarily increases the size of the OS, thereby slowing operation. The support services required by one application may be incompatible with the support services required by another application, making installation of applications more difficult.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a system and method for enhancing computer security and efficiency.